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There are various cruises from Royan in season – ask at the tourist office – including one to the Cordouan lighthouse, built by the Black Prince. There’s also a frequent 30min ferry (one-way: pedestrians €3.10, bicycles €1.60, motorbikes €10.40, cars €22.80) that crosses to the headland on the other side of the Gironde, Pointe de Grave. From there, a bicycle trail and the GR8 walking trail head down the coast through the pines and dunes to the bay of Arcachon.

An ideal bicycle or picnic excursion just over an hour’s ride from Royan is to TALMONT, 16km up the Gironde on the GR360. Apart from a few ups and downs through the woods outside Royan, it’s all level terrain. The low-lying village clusters around the beautiful twelfth-century church of Ste-Radegonde, which stands on a cliff above the Gironde.